A related art image forming apparatus is described in Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. JP-A-1-122835 (Patent Document 1). In the related art image forming apparatus, a recording sheet is conveyed to an image forming unit where an image is formed on the surface of the recording sheet, and then the recording sheet is inverted and again conveyed to the image forming unit to form an image on the rear surface of the recording sheet.
Further, the related art image forming apparatus has a supply path that guides the recording sheet to the image forming unit and an inversion path for conveying the recording sheet conveyed from the image forming unit while bending the recording sheet, to invert the direction of the recording sheet, and again guiding the recording sheet to the supply path.
The inversion path is configured to merge with the supply path at a position upstream of a regulating roller (an upstream position with reference to a direction in which the recording sheet is conveyed by the regulating roller).
The recording sheet re-conveyed from the inversion path to the supply path is again conveyed to the regulating roller by a switchback roller that is disposed upstream of a junction between the supply path and the inversion path and that can rotate in both a forward and reverse direction.